In a first, SpaceX launches national security satellite with previously flown booster
CBSN
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket propelled a third-generation Global Positioning System navigation satellite into orbit Thursday in the first launch of a national security payload using a previously flown booster. Program officials say the move will save $64.5 million over three missions.
The rocket's nine first stage engines roared to life on time at 12:09 p.m. EDT, pushing the 229-foot-tall rocket away from pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. After powering the Falcon 9 out of the thick lower atmosphere, the first stage fell away and headed for landing on a SpaceX droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. On-board cameras provided spectacular views as the booster swooped to touchdown, chalking up SpaceX's 66th successful recovery at sea and its 88th overall.Washington — The Supreme Court on Friday said it will consider the constitutionality of the Federal Communications Commission's Universal Service Fund, agreeing to review a lower court decision that upended the mechanism for funding programs that provide communications services to rural areas, low-income communities and schools, libraries and hospitals.
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin launched six space tourists on a high-speed dash to the edge of space and back Friday, giving the passengers — including a husband and wife making their second flight — about three minutes of weightlessness and an out-of-this world view before the capsule made a parachute descent to touchdown at the company's west Texas flight facility.